Los Angeles police Detective Brent Hopkins spends most of his days tracking down thieves who steal cars. It involves following up on leads, talking to victims and watching security camera footage.

He and the other auto crimes detectives in his division have dozens of cases to investigate — burglars smashing into cars and stealing items, or taking off with the vehicle altogether.

But this week, he’ll trade in his suit for his old uniform, along with many of his co-workers. The last time he wore his regularly was nine years ago as a patrol officer.

“Thankfully it still fits,” he said. “Pulling that on, and sitting in a black-and-white again is going to be a very different feeling.”

In the Los Angeles Police Department, hundreds of detectives are starting to deploy across the city as the department re-assigns them to help respond to public fear in the wake of the coronavirus outbreak.

LAPD patrols Costco in Van Nuys on Tuesday, March 17, 2020 where shoppers continue to stock up during the coronavirus outbreak. (Photo by Sarah Reingewirtz, Pasadena Star-News/SCNG)

Mayor Eric Garcetti announced the change to LAPD deployments earlier this week, ordering half of the city’s detectives to be reassigned to patrol.

The city asked LAPD to conduct “high visibility patrols at strip malls, grocery stores — anywhere where there may be a large gathering of people,” said Josh Rubenstein, a police spokesman.

Their counterparts in the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department already are out there, too, in unincorporated areas and contract cities. It’s a huge shift for public safety agencies trying to keep people calm as they line up for hours at grocery stores and wholesale markets.

And it means certain crimes could go without being investigated for a while.

“We already got help — detectives from Major Crimes, Cyber Crimes, all these specialized units,” said Lt. Mark Lopez, a watch commander at the sheriff’s station in La Crescenta-Montrose. “We’re setting them up with deputies that are on patrol right now.”

With a reduced workforce, most of their cases are likely to sit on their desks, collecting dust for the next few weeks.

“They’re at the bottom of a funnel — that doesn’t stop because of a virus,” said Sgt. Kurt Smith, a watch commander in LAPD’s Valley Traffic Division, which investigates deadly crashes and hit-and-runs in the San Fernando Valley.

Most have noted there has not been an increase in reported crimes as millions stay home. At a city council meeting on Tuesday, LAPD Chief Michel Moore said both violent and property crimes were down around the city, though he noted he didn’t know whether that was because of recent rains, or the effects of the virus.

But LAPD officials and others have said they just want to do what they can to try to quell public fear amid the outbreak.

“We’ve had sparse incidents throughout the entire region, that are not medical calls,” Rubenstein said. “We’re just trying to provide a sense of security out there.”

Only area detectives in LAPD were reassigned — specialized units were not included in the order. That means the department’s homicide detectives were off limits.

A watch commander in LAPD’s Topanga Division said Monday that “95 percent of our detectives are out in the field right now,” headed to the Westfield Topanga Mall and other shopping centers in the area. He said that meant around 16 to 18 additional officers in uniform.

Lopez said Monday morning, four detectives from different units were out patrolling the Crescenta Valley, tagging along with patrolling officers on eight-hour shifts.

Even though its probably been a while, most detectives spent years as beat cops before shifting to a more specialized assignment; Lopez said it wouldn’t be long for most of them to remember their old habits.

“All their instincts will come back to them,” Lopez said.

Sheriff’s deputies in Orange County have been given the heads up about the possibility of a similar directive.

To date the agency, which services most of south Orange County and unincorporated areas, hasn’t put out any additional patrols but said they are prepared for the possibility at a moment’s notice.

“Should we call you, you have to be ready,” Braun said.

At the Anaheim Police Department, a similar plan exists, though Sgt. Shane Carringer said it’s one that is perpetually in place for major incidents.

“We have a strategy to allocate resources where they’re needed,” he said. “It’s not out of the ordinary for us.”

Officers have also been told to do more patrolling of shopping centers and grocery stores, where crowds have begun to gather since the virus scare but so far no significant ones have been reported.

With fewer cases than L.A. and Orange County, most Inland Empire law enforcement agencies haven’t needed to redeploy officers yet.

Besides requiring its officers to take precautions while out in the field, the San Bernardino Police Department hasn’t dedicated any of its specialized officers for patrol duties, said Sgt. John Echevarria, a police spokesman.

With some court systems closed, that’s freeing up deputies acting as bailiffs and transport for inmates to head out to neighborhoods or help in other areas instead.

The court schedule in San Bernardino County was shortened this week, so deputies assigned to courtrooms are being sent out “for extra retail patrol at grocery stores, gun stores, and any impacted retail facility,” said Jodi Miller, a sheriff’s spokeswoman.

And the transportation deputies were reassigned to county jails, she said.

Like many others, however, Hopkins, the Wilshire auto crime detective, has to put his regular work on hold for a virus that doesn’t care about the thieves stealing wallets, purses, phones and cars.

“Right now I can’t handle the guy who got his windshield smashed and his tires slashed,” he said.

“I can’t handle the all the dozens of people who got their cars broken into and had their property taken — we have to focus on the emergency that’s confronting all of us right now.”

Joshua Cain is a crime and public safety reporter for the Southern California News Group, based at the L.A. Daily News in Woodland Hills. He has worked for SCNG since 2016, previously as a digital news editor in the San Gabriel Valley, helping cover breaking news, crime and local politics.

Alma Fausto is a crime, breaking news and public safety reporter for the Register. She has worked for the Register since 2013. Previously, she lived in New York City while studying at the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism where she covered the growing Mexican immigrant population in the city. Alma has also lived and studied in California’s rural and agricultural Central Valley. She’s an Orange County native from Costa Mesa, and in her spare time likes to read, visit libraries and drink good gin.

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